The present invention relates generally to telecommunications services. More particularly, the present application relates to a method and system for providing enhanced caller identification information including screening invalid calling party numbers.
Telecommunications service providers typically offer services that attempt to provide customers with information that enables them to determine whether or not to accept a call before answering the call. One service that provides such information is caller identification (“Caller ID”). Standard Caller ID services generally provide a customer with an indication of who is calling without requiring the customer to answer the call. These systems typically retrieve information about the calling party from a database and provide that information to the called party. Customer premise equipment (CPE) in the form of a display device is generally used to provide the called party with a visual readout of the name and/or telephone number associated with the calling party.
However, the effectiveness of Caller ID systems can be reduced due to a number of different occurrences. One such occurrence is the inability of a service provider to provide the standard Caller ID information for a particular incoming call. A service provider may not be able to provide the standard Caller ID information if the Caller ID information is blocked by the calling party, or if the Caller ID information is unavailable or incomplete. This may occur, for example, if the calling party pressed *67 when initiating the call.
When the standard Caller ID information cannot be provided, the called party is not adequately informed about who is calling and cannot determine whether or not to accept the incoming call before answering the call. Because the effectiveness of Caller ID systems is greatly reduced when this information cannot be provided, an improved system and method for providing caller identification information that overcome these deficiencies are needed.
Patent application Ser. No. 09/122,484, filed Jul. 24, 1998 is incorporated herein in its entirety. This patent application discloses a privacy management method and system for providing a called party with audible caller identification information when standard caller identification cannot be provided. When standard caller identification cannot be provided, the call is blocked and a request for audible caller identification is transmitted to the calling party. The audible information is subsequently transmitted to the called party.
Patent application Ser. No. 09/253,339, filed Feb. 19, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,160,876, is also incorporated herein in its entirety. This application discloses a privacy management method for providing enhanced caller identification information when per line blocking of Caller ID is present. When per line blocking is activated for a subscriber line, the Caller ID information for that line is never transmitted by the system.
One privacy management product called Caller Preview Service has been implemented for telephone service subscribers. This product is implemented in equipment of the Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) telecommunication system. This service intercepts calls that are marked “private,” “out of area” or “unknown” on Caller ID Customer Premise Equipment (CPE). When a call for a service subscriber but with an unidentified caller is intercepted at a network switch by the Caller Preview Service, the call is forwarded to an AIN Service Node/Intelligent Peripheral (SN/IP) for disposition. The SN/IP answers the call and gives the caller the option to unblock the call, enter an access code or record the caller's name.
Entry of an access code serves to override the Caller Preview Service. An access code is a ten digit code provided to the caller which, when entered by the caller, is recognized and allows the call to be completed. The access code is typically provided by the Caller Preview Service subscriber to friends, family and other contacts to bypass or override the system. The subscriber may specify and provide a large number of access codes or may provide one or a few access codes to a large number of people.
If the caller enters an access code, the SN/IP originates a new call to the subscriber, ringing the subscriber's line. When the call is answered by the subscriber or the subscriber's voice mail platform, the SN/IP will merge the new call and the original call together. The subscriber's CPE will display “Calling Party=Unknown” and give as the Calling Address the ten digit access code provided by the caller.
This embodiment has been of limited commercial success. For an access code call, the standard Caller ID information still cannot be provided. If the subscriber has provided an access code to a large number of people, the likelihood of even being able to guess the caller's identity is reduced. The called party is not adequately informed about who is calling and cannot determine whether or not to accept the incoming call before answering the call. If the called party has forwarded calls to voice mail, the caller will receive a generic voice mail or call forwarding announcement, not the called party's customized voice mail greeting or other announcement. If the called party has forwarded calls to another directory number (such as universal call forward, call forward on busy, or call forward-don't answer), and the other directory number subscribes to a privacy management service, the calling party will have to interact with the privacy management service a second time when the call is terminated to the forwarded number.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method for a privacy management system which reliably provides caller identification information even for access code type calls.